More Trouble Than I'm Worth 3: Odyssey
by Rose Stetson
Summary: Sam is called upon to visit the Asgard for some unknown reason. How does this affect her relationship with Jack? "Unending" rewrite; Part III of the "More Trouble Than I'm Worth" series
1. Asgard

**Odyssey**

The cell phone, lying on the nightstand, began vibrating urgently, and Sam groaned. She poked her head out of the covers and slipped out of Jack's arms as she reached for it. "Carter…"

"Sam, Landry wants us to come in." A widely awake Cam informed her. "We just got a message from the Asgard. They want us to come in for a visit."

"Why?" She asked, sleepily.

"Don't know." He said as Jack's cell phone rang.

He stirred beside her, reaching for the phone on the other nightstand. "O'Neill."

"I'll be there in ten." She said, forcing herself awake as she closed the phone.

"Hank, slow down. It's 0300 hours." Jack said from beside her. "What about an Asgard communication?"

He was listening intently as Sam quickly dressed.

"Okay, Hank. I'll get the Odyssey to beam the team up from Stargate Command. Keep me apprised of the situation."

He closed the phone, and rolled over, hoping to catch a glimpse of her. "I take it that you've gotten the same message I just did." He said, seriously.

She nodded as she slipped her shoes on. "Yeah."

"Say 'hello' to Thor for me."

"I will." She said, nodding.

"Take notes. I want to know everything when you get back."

"I will." She promised.

He got out of bed, and kissed her gently. "Come home, safely."

"I will." She assured as she left.


	2. Unwell

_Two weeks in the Time Dilation Field:_

Sam stood on the bridge of the Odyssey, staring out at the vast expanse of space. She had just told the team that though they'd been in the time dilation field for two weeks, her efforts to take the ship out of phase had been in vain.

She sighed. The three weeks in hyperspace on their way to Orilla had made her more than a little apprehensive to learn what the Asgard needed them for. When Thor had told them of their plan, she realized that her apprehension had been more than justified. Now, two weeks after Orilla had blown up, she was still dreading Jack's reaction. If she ever got to see it, she thought derisively to herself.

It made her sick to think that the Asgard had entrusted them with their legacy, but that it might never leave this part of the galaxy that had previously been home to the Asgard.

"Dammit, Jack," She whispered, softly. "Did you have to go back to Washington? Couldn't you just have come with me?"

"Cursing the universe, are you?" Daniel asked, from behind her.

She turned. "Sorry."

"Hey, don't apologize. I understand." He said, seriously.

She managed a small half-smile. "I guess I never understood how much of a sacrifice it was for you and Teal'c to go traipsing through the galaxy..."

He raised an eyebrow.

"You both had loved ones who were counting on you. Wives from whom you were separated while you did your jobs."

Daniel looked down at the floor for a moment before he looked back up at her. "That's how it was for Teal'c. I did what I did so that I could find Sha're, and save her. I had no intention of staying in the program after I found her."

She watched him carefully, understanding to some degree what he was saying.

"Did you know that the hand device creates an almost psychic link between the prisoner and the captor?"

She looked at him, somewhat confused at the turn of the conversation.

"Sha're was really strong; that's one of the things that I loved about her." He said, seriously. "She fought Amonet so that she could communicate with me in that moment. It was like several lifetimes passed in only a few seconds. She basically showed me how important it was for me to continue my work with SG-1."

She bit the inside of her cheek as her heart ached for her friend.

He managed a sad smile. "She was right. If I hadn't had this..."

"We wouldn't have been able to do it without you either, Daniel." She assured.

He chuckled softly. "You would have found someone else..."

"Maybe. Maybe not." She said, softly. "Certainly not anyone else that Jack would have been willing to work with."

He laughed. "That's true. He's a little set in his ways when it comes to scientists."

She chuckled. "Yeah...you and me. We were the only scientists who got past his defenses. He told me once that if he'd known twenty years ago that his best friends would be an archaeologist and an alien, and that he would be dating an astrophysicist, he would have shot the person who told him."

Daniel chuckled appreciatively. "And he would have."

"Yeah." She laughed before sobering. "I don't know that I can do it anymore..." She admitted.

He looked at her, and she could tell that he wasn't judging her, just listen.

"I don't know; maybe it's silly..."

"Probably not." He said, seriously.

She gave him a grateful smile. "I guess that I'm just at this place in my life where I'm realizing what the cost of exploring and protecting the galaxy really is."

He nodded in understanding.

"Part of me wants to get home, retire, move to northern Virginia, and teach theoretical astrophysics for the rest of my life." She admitted. "Does that sound crazy?"

"No."

She shrugged. "I've been putting my personal life on hold for so long, and I don't want to do it anymore."

"You don't have to apologize for that, Sam. No one could expect your needs to remain stagnant for ten years."

She nodded, thoughtfully.

"Besides," Daniel began again with a slightly amused smile. "It's taken you and Jack long enough to get to this point. I would imagine that you two have enough time to make up for that the universe couldn't begrudge you retirement."

She smiled, gratefully. "Thank you, Daniel."

"Hey, no problem." He said with a small smile. "Feeling a little better about life?"

"A little…" She said as she felt her nausea bubble up again. She grimaced. "I think I need to get back to work."

"Okay. Call me if you need anything."

"I will." She said, nodding as she hurried off.

She walked into her quarters, and lay on the bed. She clasped her hands over her stomach as she studied the tiles on the ceiling.

There was a ring, and Sam rolled over with a groan. She walked over to the door, and opened it to see Teal'c on the other side of the door.

"Colonel Carter." He greeted with a nod of his head.

"Teal'c." She said, smiling tiredly.

"You do not seem to be faring well."

"I'm just tired." She said, seriously.

"Is there anything that I can procure for your use, Colonel Carter?" He asked, concerned.

"No, Teal'c. I think I just need some rest." She said with an amused chuckle.

"I will come and alert you when the noontime meal has been prepared." He said, nodding graciously.

She turned green upon remembering that tuna fish salad sandwiches were on the menu for the afternoon. "I...I don't think...I don't think that's a good idea..."

He raised an eyebrow, curiously, as she ran to the nearest bathroom. She leaned over the metal toilet as she began to gag.

"Colonel Carter, you are unwell." He said seriously as she returned to her quarters.

"It would seem so." She said as she nodded weakly. "Maybe you should tell the team to leave me be until I get over this bug. I don't think we want them to get what I have."

"Indeed." He agreed.

"Thank you."

"I believe it would be wise if you retired now."

"I will." She said, nodding. "Thanks for checking on me."

"You are most welcome." He said, bowing as he left.

Sam closed the door before she walked back to the bed with a yawn. Maybe she would just take a little bit of a nap.


	3. Late

The chimes rang insistently as Sam stirred several hours later. "Hm..." She moaned softly.

"Samantha?" Vala asked, through the door. "Are you in there?"

Sam's eyes opened slowly. "Vala?" She asked, groggily.

"Samantha, are you awake?"

Sam's eyes snapped open. "Vala!" She cried, rolling out of bed.

She stumbled to the door. "Hi, Vala!" She greeted as she opened the door.

"Samantha, are you all right?"

"I'm sorry. I'm just a little under the weather." She said, shaking her head.

"I can see that." Vala said, studying her friend. "What's wrong?"

"I don't know for sure. I think it's just the stomach flu." Sam groaned as she returned to her bed.

Vala followed her. "You have been working pretty hard lately. Maybe you need to get a little more rest."

Sam sighed. "You're probably right. I just...hate being stuck out here, knowing it's all my fault."

"Don't the Ori get some of the credit for our problem?" Vala asked, seriously. "I mean, they are tracking us through hyperspace. What about the Asgard? The Asgard core is the reason why they can track us." She looked at Sam soberly. "You did the only thing that you could have done at the time."

"That won't get us home." She said softly.

"You're just sick with that...stomach flute."

Sam managed a small chuckle. "Actually, I think you mean 'flu'. It's short for influenza. It's a classification of virus."

"Whatever." Vala dismissed. "Anyway, I may never have had this...flu...but I do remember how ill I was when I was pregnant with Adria. I was so sick, all day, everyday, that I wasn't able to feel hopeful about anything." She saw the color drain from Sam's face. "What?"

Sam swallowed. "No, no, no, no, no..." She muttered as she reached for her pocket calendar. "No, no, no, no, no," she continued, shaking her head.

"What is it, Samantha?"

Sam looked over at Vala. "I'm...late..."

"For what?"

Sam closed her eyes with a shake of her head as Vala gasped. "Oh...that kind of late...oh dear."

Sam smiled nervously. "How long were you sick with Adria? Is it...normal?"

"Oh, I had it much worse than everyone else." Vala lied. "You will probably feel much better in a day or two.."

"We're never going to get home." Sam said, looking at her flat stomach as she bit the inside of her cheek.

"Don't you...like...children?" Vala asked, looking at Sam, concerned.

"Like them? Sure. Want to have one? Someday, yes. Today? Not really."

"I admit it's a little inconvenient, but not impossible..." Vala said, thoughtfully.

"Vala, the father of this baby - if there is a baby - is in another galaxy right now. And he's living life at a different rate of time than we are. And since his first son died, he either doesn't want kids or wants to be there every minute, but I'm not sure which because we haven't even talked about having kids. At any rate, it's...not exactly ideal. Especially if I'm going to get us home before Cam goes crazy which will be a long time before this baby is born - again...if there is one."

"Sam..." Vala began.

"Vala..." Sam said, inhaling. "I think...I think I need some time to think."

Vala nodded, soberly. "All right." She turned to leave before she looked back at Sam. "You'll let me know if there's anything I can do to help?"

"Yes. I will." Sam admitted.

Vala hurried back, and gave her friend a hug. "You're a strong woman. Probably even stronger than you think you are. You'll be a wonderful mother."

Sam smiled, gratefully. "Thank you."

Vala smiled warmly before she bounded back out of the room.

"If this is true, I'm awfully glad that Daniel's a practicing midwife..." Sam said, under her breath. For some reason, this struck her as rather funny, and she couldn't help but chuckle. Samantha Carter, "one of the guys" might have a baby on board the Odyssey in a time dilation field, and of all the other passengers, she had Daniel and Vala to guide her through her pregnancy. This was going to be interesting.

Suddenly, she had another thought that made her inhale sharply. General Landry was going to be curious about who the father was, and while Cameron might not be all right with a love affair between two Air Force officers, of the two other officers currently on the Odyssey, he would be less likely to say anything. General Landry would probably keep his eye trained on her to discover if there had been any misconduct on her behalf.

"Great." She sighed as she sat down on the bed.


	4. Confession

_Two weeks later:_

Sam sat in her lab, staring at the computer screen in front of her.

"That function is not possible." Thor's hologram intoned.

Sam closed her eyes as irritation bubbled up inside her.

"Hey, Sam. How's it going?" Cam asked, walking over to her.

"You too?" She snapped, jumping up from her seat.

He looked genuinely surprised by her outburst. "I was just trying to find out how you were feeling. I know you weren't feeling well there for a little while."

Sam inhaled. "I'm fine, and I'm sorry. I thought you were jumping down my throat about how long it's taken me to figure out how we can safely get out of this thing alive."

"Was on my list, but I'll take it off right now." Cam said, nodding seriously.

"Thank you." She said, curtly.

"You sure you're okay?"

She glared at him.

"Right. You're fine. I'll let you get back to work."

"That..." She began, too calmly to be anything other than livid, "would be great."

As he hurried from the engine room, she returned to the keyboard. She typed for a few seconds before Thor's voice interrupted again. "That function is not possible."

She threw her pencil at the hologram, narrowly missing Daniel as he walked in the door. "Whoa..." He said, watching the pencil roll out the door. "What's going on?"

"What's going on is that Thor won't stop telling me that I can't do this." She said, angrily. "And I'm not even smart enough just to turn him off!"

"You'll figure it out, Sam." He soothed. "You are smart enough. You can do this."

She gave him a look that made him wish he had worn heavy body armor. "Tough day, huh?" He asked, cautiously.

She sighed as she sat back in the chair. "You could say that."

"Do you want to talk about it?" He asked, pulling up a chair across from her.

She felt her lip quiver. "This is hard." She admitted.

"What's hard? The technology? Sam, you'll have that figured out in no time." He said, rubbing her arm. "You always do."

"I miss them..."

"Who?"

"Thor, Vasjir, Heimdall, Martouf, Janet, General Hammond, my parents...Jack..." She whispered as tears slipped down her cheeks. "I know it sounds crazy since I'm not all by myself, but I still feel alone."

Daniel pulled her into a tight hug. "Oh, Sam..."

She sobbed in his arms for several minutes before she managed to pull herself back together. "I'm sorry, Daniel..." She cried, wiping at her eyes with the back of her hand. "I feel like such a fool."

"Hey," he soothed. "It's okay. It's stressful. But we've got all the time in the world, okay."

She turned her teary eyes to him as she shook her head. "No, Daniel. We don't. At some point - albeit a long time from now - that blast is going to hit us."

"Like you said, it's going to be a long time from now. It's not going to take fifty years to figure this thing out."

"No, but it will probably take at least one..." She said, feeling a torrent of emotion begin to flood her.

"That's okay." He said, gently.

"What am I going to tell Jack?" She asked, tearing up again.

"That you were stuck in a time dilation field, and that you're one year closer to his age." Daniel said with a teasing grin on his face. "See...no problem."

"No, Daniel." She said, shaking his head. "What am I going to tell him about the baby that I bring home a year from now?"

The smile on his face faltered. "The what?" He asked, stunned.

"I'm pregnant." She whispered, feeling more and more isolated.

He inhaled. "Oh."

"I know...it's too much. I just...need to get us home right now." She said as her mind moved at a frenzied pace back to the work she felt obligated to continue.

"Sam..." Daniel interrupted as he turned her back to look at him. "Breathe."

She took a deep breath.

"Okay. Jack's been down this road before. He probably didn't like it the first time, and probably won't like it when you get back, but he'll get over it. He loves you, and he's going to love that baby. You know it's true." He said, looking her in the eye.

She nodded as she blinked away tears.

"I'll help you until we get home." He promised.

"Thank you." She said, giving him a grateful smile.

"Now, why don't you go, and take a little break?"

"I don't..." She began to protest.

"Sam, you're probably hungry and tired, right?"

"Only tired." She said after thinking for a moment. "I've been snacking on these saltine crackers I got the Asgard core to make."

"Good." He said, seriously. "Now, things will look differently after a little rest. Trust me."

"Okay." She said, nodding. "I'll take a break. Just a little one, though. I need to get back to work as soon as I can."

He nodded. "I understand."

"Thanks, Daniel." She said, earnestly.

"You're welcome, Sam." He said as he gave her a smile. "And you're going to do just fine. You're going to get us home, and we're going to be laughing about this in no time."

"I hope so." She said, seriously.


	5. Standdown

_Seven Months Later:_

"Colonel Carter," General Landry said as he walked into the engine room to find the heavily pregnant woman sitting at the console. "What are you doing here?"

"Just running some simulations, General." She said, seriously. She had let her blond hair grow out, and it was hitting her shoulders about now.

"Colonel, I think you should let your research rest until after you have that baby." He said, seriously.

"Oh no, sir. I'm fine." She insisted.

"That wasn't a suggestion..."

"Yes, sir." She said, giving him a look of proper chagrin.

"Have you gotten a working nursery together in your quarters?"

"Teal'c and Vala helped me piece together the crib and a few other necessities using the Asgard matter converter." She said, nodding.

"Good." He said, nodding. "Now...go home and put your feet up."

She opened her mouth to speak, but he interrupted. "That's an order, Colonel."

She sighed as she closed her laptop. "Yes, sir."

"And Colonel?"

"Yes?"

"Leave the laptop here."

"Yes, sir." She said, standing.

"There's a movie library on board. You might want to check it out."

She managed an unenthusiastic smile. "Yes, sir."

The General left, and Sam sighed as she looked down at her large belly. "Colonel Mitchell is going to have a fit if he sees me watching a movie instead of getting us home...even if I was ordered to look at the movie library on board."

She walked out of the room and into the corridor.

"Colonel Carter." Teal'c greeted as he approached her.

"Hi, Teal'c." She said with a small smile. "How are you?"

"I am well. How are you faring?" He asked, nodding in her direction.

"General Landry ordered me out of the engine room until I have the baby." She said with a sigh.

"General Landry is wise."

Sam sighed. "I know, but I also know Cam's going to get more testy until I figure out how to get us home."

"I will run interference on your behalf." He offered.

"Thank you." She said, gratefully.

"What are your plans?" He asked, looking over at her.

"I was ordered to look at the movie library on board." She said, chagrined.

She could have sworn that he was amused by her statement.

"Which film are you considering?" He asked, carefully schooling his features.

"I'm not sure. I only just left the engine room."

"Then I will accompany you." He said, firmly.

"You don't have to do that, Teal'c. I know you're probably on your way to spar with...someone..."

"I am not."

"Oh." She said, nodding. "All right. I guess it's movie night in my quarters."

"Indeed." He said, nodding with a nearly imperceptible smile.

He helped her into her quarters where she sat down on the leather couch.

"I will return with a film for our viewing," he said as she got situated.

"Teal'c, I can choose a movie..." She groaned as he helped her prop her feet on a pillow that topped one of the packing crates from the cargo hold.

"I will return." He said as he finished, and she realized that, as usual, she wouldn't win an argument with him. Not that there were ever arguments with Teal'c, merely disagreements which were settled quietly. She chuckled to herself as he left the room. How many times had he insisted on taking one of these disagreements to the sparring room? Instantly, he'd had his way.

"Guess I can't spar him into submission, kiddo. Not with you sitting where you are." Sam said, talking to her stomach.

She realized what she was doing, and shook her head. "I'm slowly losing my mind..."

Sam shifted her weight slightly.

It wasn't long before Teal'c returned, carrying two pint-sized ice cream cartons in his hands and a handful of DVDs.

He handed her the Ben and Jerry's Half-Baked ice cream carton.

"You're amazing." She said, accepting the carton gratefully.

"I have brought a selection of films which I believed you would most enjoy." He said, laying them on the couch beside her.

"Oh?" She asked, looking at them. "_Sleepless in Seattle_, _Shall we Dance?_, _Casino Royale_, _Flightplan_, and _Wolverine_."

She looked up at Teal'c for a moment before she handed him one of the discs. "_Wolverine_ all the way."

He seemed somewhat surprised, though he quickly put the DVD into the plasma screen television and DVD player.

Within a half-hour, Daniel, Vala, Cam, and General Landry had joined them.

Sam chuckled as she took another bite of her ice cream and looked around the room. They're absolutely nuts, she thought to herself. She looked over at Teal'c. "Thanks." She whispered after a moment.

He nodded in acknowledgement as he took a bite of his own ice cream. Sam's eyes caught a look at what he was eating, and within a moment, she had reached over and switched cartons with him. "Hm...Phish food...my favorite." She said as she took a bite, contentedly.

The Jaffa watched her with a raised eyebrow before he finally returned his attention to the movie.

--

They were all engrossed in the movie except for Daniel who watched Sam squirm periodically as she tried to get comfortable. "Is there something I can do to make you more comfortable?" Daniel whispered.

She looked over, and shook her head. "I'll be okay when I get off the couch."

"You're sure?"

She nodded. "Yeah."

"Okay." He said, trying to return his attention to the final scene of the movie.

When it had finished, Vala turned to her friend. "That was a wonderful choice of movie." She said with a grin. "I love Hugh Jackman."

Daniel raised an eyebrow. A week ago, they'd finally decided to try a relationship, and now she was telling everyone that she loved Hugh Jackman.

Sam chuckled as she struggled to get up off the couch.

Instantly, Daniel and Teal'c were at her side, offering her the assistance she needed.

"Thanks, guys." She said, somewhat embarrassed.

"It was a pleasure." Teal'c said, nodding.

"Yeah, no problem, Sam." Daniel said, seriously.

"I think I'm going to go for a bit of a walk; stretch my back muscles a little." Sam said, looking around her.

"I'm in the mood for a walk." Vala offered.

"I was gonna run, but I can walk." Cam added.

Sam shook her head. "I'm in the mood to take a walk by myself."

"Let me know if you get lonely." Vala said, enthusiastically.

"I will." She said, walking to the door.

General Landry was the first to join her there. "Engine room is still off limits."

"I know." She said, shaking her head as she tried to keep from being annoyed.

He walked out of the room, followed by a silent Cam. Sam inhaled as she watched Cam leave. The man would never forgive her for getting them into this mess. She was starting to see that now.

"Don't let him get to you, Samantha." Vala suggested. "He's just being a puss sour."

"Sour-puss." Sam corrected, almost automatically.

"Oh. That makes more sense." She said, nodding. "Anyway, let me know if I can get you anything."

"I think I'm fine for now." Sam said with a chuckle. "But I'll tell you if something comes up."

Vala gave her a light squeeze before bending her head to her belly as she pushed the hair out of her face. "Give your mother a little break, okay? She's got a lot on her mind..."

Sam shook her head as Vala returned upright. "What?"

"Nothing." Sam chuckled.

Daniel joined them. "Sam, I know you probably already figured this out, but if you feel anything at all...I'll be here the next minute."

"Daniel, I know our labor and delivery plan forwards and backwards." She said, seriously. "I don't need a reminder."

"Right..." He said, shrugging. "Sorry..."

"It's okay." She said as she gave him a hug. "Besides, you're usually only in one of two places: standing and looking at the contents of the Asgard database or in your quarters with Vala."

He blushed lightly as Sam looked at Vala. "Be careful or you'll end up looking like this." She said, gesturing to her stomach.

Vala laughed softly.

"Okay..." Daniel said, uncomfortably. "I think we should leave now..."

Sam laughed as Daniel dragged Vala out of the room.

"Do you require any assistance, Colonel Carter?"

"I'm fine." Sam said with a small smile.

"Then I will depart." He said with a nod.

--

Sam walked down to the bridge. A small smile lit up her face when she saw the star map. She remembered the first time that Jack had been on the Prometheus. He had wanted to call it the "Enterprise". She laughed softly..

She eased herself into the captain's chair. "Your dad has a pretty serious sense of humor. You'll find that out when you meet him."

Sam paused for a moment as she ran her hand over her stomach. "If I can get you home to meet him." She whispered.

She sat there for a moment, feeling an urge to just cry. "I don't think I'm smart enough to get us home," she whispered as tears slipped down her cheeks.

She wiped at her cheeks, and placed her hands on the armrests, ready to stand. She felt a sharp pain in her abdomen which forced her to sit back down as she grimaced, rubbing her stomach. She tried to breathe deeply, but her body resisted until the contraction ended. She inhaled deeply and sighed loudly. "Okay...that...wasn't exactly what I had planned for today."

She stood, somewhat shakily. She walked across the deck carefully.

She clutched at the door frame as she passed it a few minutes later. "Ooh..." She said, expelling air as though she'd been punched in the stomach. She leaned against the wall, suspending her large belly beneath her for a moment. The contraction ended, and she stayed there, trying to recover slightly before she returned to her normal height. Suddenly, she wanted two things: Jack and a medical doctor.


	6. Babies

"What happened to the saying that time flies when you're having fun?" Sam asked as her lips chattered. "I don't see it flying..."

Vala offered her another ice chip as Daniel took a cool, damp washcloth and applied it to her face gently. "You're doing great, Sam." Vala said with a supportive smile.

"Say that again when you have a license to practice medicine." Sam said through gritted teeth.

"I assume you would want that license to be legal..." Vala said, thoughtfully.

"Vala, not helping." Daniel said, looking over at her with a pointed look.

"Right." Vala said, returning her attention to Sam.

"Music..." Sam moaned. "I need music..."

"Do you have some in your quarters?" Vala asked, helpfully. "I can send Muscles to get it for you."

"Yo-Yo Ma..." She heaved. "In the CD player..."

"All right, I'll be right back." Vala said, patting her hand gently.

Sam closed her eyes as she laid her head against the pillow. She wanted to cry. She was on this god-forsaken ship, having a baby.

She laughed the desperate laugh of a woman who was trying to understand her fate.

"Hey," Daniel said, taking her hand.

"What did I do to deserve this?" She asked as a single tear slipped down her cheeks.

"I wish I could fix this for you." He said, honestly as he squeezed her hand gently. "And I know that if Jack was here, he'd say the same thing."

"And do everything he could to fix it." She said with a sad smile. She inhaled sharply, looking away.

"What is it?" Daniel asked, looking over at her. "Another contraction?"

She bit her lip as she shook her head.

"Oh." He said, realizing it was a bittersweet memory.

"I wish he was here." She whispered, turning her sorrowful eyes back to him.

"I know, Sam, and if I could switch places with him, I would."

"Please don't." She said seriously.

"What?"

"If you send anyone, send Mitchell. I need you - you're the only who knows how to deliver the baby." She said with a desperate chuckle.

"Good point." He said with a tiny chuckle of his own. "Okay, I'll switch Jack for Mitchell, and Dr. Lam for her dad, okay?"

Sam managed a tired chuckle. "Sounds like a plan..." She shifted as a grimace overtook the smile on her lips.

"Breathe..." Daniel coached gently.

She inhaled through her nose and exhaled through her parched lips as Vala returned. "I have the compact disc and the compact disc player."

"Plug it in." Daniel instructed, looking over at her from where he was helping Sam relax.

"Right." Vala said, plugging in the device. She pressed play. The sounds of Yo-Yo Ma playing Camille Saint-Saen's "The Swan" from his large work called "Carnival of Animals" instantly began.

Daniel was relieved to see Sam visibly relax, leaning against the pillows with her eyes closed. Her grip on his hand was still tight, and her lips were pursed as she suffered through the pain.

"That was great." Daniel said, enthusiastically as he saw the tension on her face ease with the contraction.

She laid against the bed, feeling drained. She breathed deeply as she pictured sitting on the dock at Jack's cabin with her folding chair beside his as they just waited for the non-existent fish to bite at their fishing lines.

In the haze of her pain, she wondered if she hadn't been there for a just a second.

"Jack," she moaned deliriously.

Daniel watched her, looking down at his hands as he wished he could do something to make her greatest dream a reality. Sadly, the Asgard matter-converter which could make Ben and Jerry's ice cream, a crib, and plant seeds couldn't make Jack appear. Not the real one, anyway.

Vala watched him for a moment. "I'm going to get some more ice chips." She finally said. "And I'm going to get you some coffee. It looks like we're in for a long night."

Daniel nodded absently.

By the time she returned, Daniel was waiting for her. "She's exhausted, but it's time for her to push."

Vala nodded. "Okay."

He touched her shoulder. "Thanks for the help," he said, gratefully.

She gave him a small smile. "You're welcome, Daniel."

--

The next two hours progressed slowly in Sam's opinion. She gritted her teeth as she sat up and pushed again.

"That's it, Samantha." Vala encouraged.

She grunted as Daniel pulled the child from her womb. "I've got the head." He said with a smile as he looked up at Sam.

She sat back against the pillows and inhaled for a moment.

"Okay, Sam, just one more push, and you'll be a mommy." Daniel said, looking up at her.

She groaned as Vala helped her back up. She grasped Vala's hand in her own as she pushed one final time.

As Sam cried out, a second wail was heard.

"It's a girl." Daniel said, almost unable to contain his excitement. "Sam, it's a girl."

She looked over at Daniel who held the baby up for her to see. She felt tears well up in her eyes as Daniel placed the baby carefully in her arms. "Oh," she breathed, unable to express the feelings that washed over her.

Vala managed a small smile for her friend before she turned away. Daniel noticed this, and deciding to leave mother and daughter alone for a moment, he followed her. "Vala," he whispered.

"I'll be there in a minute, Daniel." She said, getting choked up.

"Vala," he said, reaching out.

"Just...give me a minute..." She protested.

He turned her around and pulled her into an embrace.

"They wouldn't even let me hold her." She sobbed. "I went through hell to bring her into the world, and they wouldn't even let me hold her."

He kissed the top of her head as he held her tightly.

Teal'c approached the couple. "How does Colonel Carter fare?" He asked as they pulled apart.

"She's fine. So is her daughter." Daniel said, looking over at his friend.

"I am most relieved." He said, nodding in acknowledgement.

"Look, let me get them cleaned up, and then I'll let you know if Sam's ready for visitors."

"Let her rest, Daniel." Vala said, gently.

"I will return in the morning, Daniel Jackson." Teal'c said, bowing before he left.

"Are you feeling better?" Daniel asked, looking over at Vala.

She nodded. "A little. It's not easy to know that my only child was the daughter of the Ori." She sighed. "I feel cheated somehow..."

"If you want to try, we can have a baby." Daniel said, looking at her intently.

"Here on this ship?" She asked, skeptically.

"Vala, Sam's got a baby."

"Oh? The "everyone else is doing it" is not a good excuse." She said, seriously.

He gave her a strange look.

"It doesn't matter how many times I've used it."

"Vala, I'm not trying to fight with you. If you want to try, let's try. That's all I'm saying."

"I'll think about it." She said, nodding. "But I think we have a patient to take care of."

Daniel nodded, walking in to take care of Sam.

As he walked into the infirmary, she was holding her baby close to her chest. "I'm so sorry." She whispered between sobs.


	7. Grace

_Seven years later:_

"Mata!"

Sam looked up as she heard the joyous cry, but she only saw a flash of brown before she felt two little arms wrap themselves around her neck.

"Hello, sweetheart." She said with a grin as she returned the hug. "Learn a new word?"

Grace grinned, and Sam looked into her mouth, surprised. "Grace Jacqueline Carter, you've lost a tooth!"

"Yep. And Daniel taught me a new word in Ancient."

Sam had to hide the smile as her daughter's "s" whistled. "What was it?"

"Mata. It means "Mother"." She said, proudly.

"Gracious mother is a more direct translation." Daniel said, leaning against the doorway with his hands in his pockets. He had a small smile on his lips as he watched mother and daughter.

Sam blushed. "Teaching my seven-year-old Ancient, are you?"

"Of course." Daniel said with a smile. "You wanted her to go to school, and the Ancient language is a rather important part of our lives right now. Besides, when we get back, she'll be the only seven-year-old on Earth who knows it." He grinned. "It'll be our secret language."

Grace grinned as she saw Daniel wink affectionately in her direction.

"I almost wish you would teach her Asgard." Sam said with a sigh. "Maybe then, I could get a little help with some of the system analyses I've been working on." She glanced back at her computer, somewhat frustrated by what was on the screen.

"I can help you." Daniel insisted as he walked over. "What is it?"

She pointed at the screen. "It's apparently something that's...not translatable. At least by machine."

"Well, let's have a try." He said, looking at the screen. "But I have to warn you. It might take me a little while to figure it out."

"No hurry. We've been here almost ten years already. What's a couple more hours?" She said with a faltering smile.

Daniel looked over at her, wishing that he knew what to say. She'd been blaming herself for their situation for far too long.

"Mata, come." Grace said, from the doorway. She held a small vial in her hands, and Sam inhaled, worriedly. "Grace, what's in your hands?"

"Bubbles." She grinned. "Vala gave them to me."

Sam swallowed down memories as Grace brought the small wand to her lips and blew out a small stream of shimmering bubbles.

"Twinkle, twinkle, little star," she began. "How I wonder what you are."

Sam's lips parted in surprise as she felt a renewed loneliness overwhelm her. Her daughter, as innocent as she was, had just reminded her of her entrapment on the _Prometheus _when her delusions had helped her to save herself and the rest of her crew members. Memories of what she'd wanted to say to Jack were replaced with their most tender, intimate moments that seemed so far away as they washed over her like water from a warm waterfall.

"Sam? You okay?" Daniel asked, studying her.

"Fine." She whispered, trying to pull herself back to reality.

"Come play with me!" Grace insisted.

"I'm busy, sweetheart."

"Now, Mommy." Grace said, pouting.

Sam looked at her daughter with a sigh. Jack would have done the same thing if he had been here, and she couldn't very well have gotten after him like she wanted to get after her daughter. "Don't pout. It's rude." Sam said, looking back at the keyboard.

"Don't you want to play with me?" Grace asked with heartbreaking sadness in her eyes. A single tear welled up in her eye, threatening to fall.

Sam closed her eyes for a moment as she felt her own heart break. Finally, she looked back at Grace. "Okay. I'll play with you."

She was rewarded with an instant smile. "And Daniel?"

Sam looked at Daniel, and he nodded. "I'll play with you." He said with a small chuckle.

"And Vala?"

"I'll talk to her, but I don't think you'll hear any objections coming from her." Daniel laughed.

Sam chuckled appreciatively.

"Then it's just Teal'c, Colonel Mitchell, and General Landry." Grace said finally.

"Honey, I don't know if they're going to want to play with you. They're pretty busy themselves." Sam said, gently.

"They always play with me." Grace said, pouting.

"We can always ask them, but I don't want to hear any complaints if they can't play." Sam said, sternly.

"Okay, Mommy." She said, earnestly.

"All right. Let's go ask Teal'c. He's probably sparring with Colonel Mitchell."

"I'll get Vala and meet you in the rec room, okay?" Daniel said, looking at Sam.

She nodded affirmatively.

He couldn't help but chuckle as he overheard Grace's next words.

"I want to learn how to spar like Teal'c and Colonel Mitchell."

"Oh, not for a LONG time, kiddo..." Sam said, seriously. "Mommy couldn't handle that."


	8. Vala

Sam couldn't help but chuckle as she watched Cam, Teal'c and Daniel try to catch the energetic seven-year-old.

Vala's face held a small smile as she sat beside her friend on the sidelines.

"Hey." Sam said, warmly.

"Hello, Samantha." Vala said, managing a strained smile as she looked over.

"Something wrong?"

"No." Vala said, shaking her head. "Nothing at all."

Sam's face showed that she clearly didn't believe her, and Vala sighed. "It's the same thing it usually is." She said, cryptically.

Sam's face held genuine sadness for her friend. "I'm sorry, Vala."

Vala shrugged. "We've been trying to have a baby for seven years now, and since the miscarriage last year..."

Sam studied her friend.

"Well, let's just say we've decided to let things run their course." She said, looking back at Grace.

"I'm sorry to hear that." Sam said, softly. "You would have made a wonderful mother."

Vala chuckled through the tears which threatened to fall. "I don't think so...look at how badly I screwed up my firstborn."

"That wasn't you." Sam said, seriously.

"Maybe not." She admitted. "But I certainly didn't help things."

Sam bit her lip as she watched Grace play. "You have to wonder who's pulling all the strings sometimes, don't you?"

"Whomever it is has a wicked sense of humor." Vala agreed soberly.

Sam nodded. "Things are so jumbled up..."

"Well, maybe it's all for the best."

Sam looked at her curiously.

"Well, I look at you, and I realize how hard it must be to have a daughter that doesn't know what the surface of a planet - any planet - looks like."

Sam inhaled sharply. "It is tough." She admitted. "I mean, her father loves the outdoors, and she's never seen running water."

"She's never been fishing." Vala finished.

"Exactly." Sam said, nodding.

"Daniel has his videotapes from a handful of his missions..." She offered helpfully.

"Thanks, Vala, but I don't think that's going to cut it. I just...want to get her to Earth so that she can do those things with him."

She nodded. "I understand."

"Vala, catch!" Grace called as she threw a ball over at them.

Vala covered her face with her hands and deflected it accidentally.

"Vala!" Grace complained.

"Sorry, Grace." Vala chuckled as she hopped off the bench. "I guess I'm playing dodgeball."

Sam smiled softly.

"Come on, Mom!"

Sam got off the bench as well, hurrying over to her daughter. "All right...play ball!"


	9. Victory

_Twelve Years Later:_

The crack of the training staffs echoed through the metal room as nineteen-year-old Grace effectively blocked the offensive blow that Teal'c had given her. She practically flew around him as she took her own offensive strike. With a swift move, she swept his legs from beneath him, and took a swing. He blocked it, but still the training staff was only an inch from his face.

"Okay, okay," Mitchell laughed. "Let up, Carter. Give Teal'c a little space."

Instantly, Grace let up on the pressure she was exerting, and stepped back. She offered him a hand up, and he took it.

"You have fought well, Grace Carter." He said, nodding respectfully, upon standing.

"Really?" She asked with a childlike grin that was identical to her mother's.

"Indeed." He said, seriously.

"Yeah, you did what I've been trying to do for years!" Mitchell said, seriously.

"Oh?" She asked, looking over at him.

"Yeah. You beat him."

She blushed. "I wouldn't go so far as to say..."

"It is true." Teal'c said, seriously.

"Well, it's just simple physics. If you use a little velocity and a little inertia, then it doesn't matter if you're bigger or stronger." She said, seriously.

"You sound more like your mother everyday." Mitchell said, shaking his head.

Grace chuckled. "Thank you."

She reached for one of the towels a few feet away. "Well, I'm going to hit the locker room." She said, wiping her face and her arms. "Then, I'm going to read a little of the Asgard database."

"Isn't Jackson going to be in there?"

"No." She said, shaking her head. "Daniel's treating Vala to an anniversary dinner tonight. He won't be in there today, so I offered to help translate."

"Enjoy yourself."

"I will, Teal'c. Don't worry." She said as she left.

Mitchell joined Teal'c as they watched her leave.

"You know, everyday, she sounds more and more like O'Neill."

"Indeed." Teal'c said, nodding.


	10. Dad

Sam walked carefully down the corridors of the _Odyssey_. She'd kept fairly fit during her time here, but still, she felt age creeping up on her. She walked into the room where the Asgard database was being housed, somewhat surprised to see her daughter there. "Grace?"

"Hm?" She asked absently as she continued to work on her project.

Sam chuckled softly. She and her daughter were so much alike. When they were working on a project, they were almost impossible to distract.

"What are you working on?"

"I'm finishing up some of the translations that Daniel was working on."

"Oh? Where is he?"

"Celebrating his anniversary with Vala."

"Right..." Sam said, nodding. "I'd forgotten about that. Well, I guess I'll see you for lunch?"

"Sure." She said, still engulfed in her translations.

Sam shook her head as she turned to leave, but Grace set down the laptop she'd had in her hands. "Mom?"

"Yes?" Sam asked, turning back to her daughter.

Grace leaned against the Asgard console, casually. "You said you'd tell me about my dad someday."

Sam inhaled sharply. "I did, didn't I?"

"I know they try to hide it, but I've still heard everyone whisper about how much I remind them of this guy...O'Neill..." Grace looked at her mother, earnestly. "He's my dad, isn't he?"

Sam nodded soberly. "Yes."

Grace nodded as she tried to process things internally, looking down at the floor.

"The night before we left on this mission..." Sam said, reaching for the chain she always had around her neck. "He asked me to marry him, and I said "yes"."

Grace looked up at her mother, and saw the engagement ring which she wore on a chain around her neck. "And after twenty years in a time dilation field, you've remained faithful to him." She said, softly. "You must love him a lot."

Sam nodded, seriously. "Yes, I do."

"How did you two meet?"

A smile tug at Sam's lips as she remembered that fateful day in the briefing room when she'd met Jack. "He was the commander of a team that was going to retrieve Daniel from Abydos. I was finally being allowed through the Stargate after two years of studying it." She chuckled softly. "Your dad didn't like scientists at the time, and both he and his teammates, Kawalsky and Ferretti, were being rather...antagonistic toward me. But I didn't make it very easy on them..."

"What did you do?" Grace asked, watching her mother's face liven as she spoke about the early days of her work.

"I told them that even though I was a woman, I could handle anything that they could handle." Sam laughed. "Your dad still didn't like me, but General Hammond ordered him to let me on the mission." Sam sobered slightly as she remembered her friends from the early days of the Stargate program. "It was like I was the one little girl in the neighborhood who wanted to play with the boys, and it took their father's order to get them to let me play in the sandbox."

"So, then you met Daniel on Abydos."

She nodded. "Yes. And after only a few weeks, I made it onto your dad's "safe scientists" list."

"When did you fall in love with him?"

Sam thought for a moment. "I don't know. I was attracted to him almost instantly. Come to think about it, that's probably one of the reasons that his antagonism bothered me. But then I heard about his son and his divorce..."

"His son? His divorce?" Grace asked, confused.

"Your dad is..." Sam grimaced. "Used to be...fifteen years older than I was."

"Now he's five years younger?" Grace asked, looking at her.

She nodded. "With my time in the time dilation field? Yes."

Grace nodded in understanding.

"Anyway, he had been married before, but his marriage fell apart when his ten-year-old son accidentally shot himself with his personal firearm."

Grace's eyes widened. "That's terrible."

"Daniel says that he was despondent and depressed until he was ordered to go through the Stargate to Abydos."

"Daniel knew him?"

"Only when your dad went to go through the Stargate."

"Ah."

"Anyway, Daniel says that it was a dark time for him. After he returned from Abydos, Jack's wife, Sara, had filed for divorce. The irony was that it was about then that he was ready to really begin living again."

Grace inhaled and exhaled as she thought about everything that her mother had just told her. "Sounds like you were good for him then." She finally said, looking back up at her mother.

"He was good for me too." Sam said, honestly. "After all, I got you out of the whole thing, right?"

Grace managed a small smile.

"He would be very proud of you, Grace." She said, seriously. "He would have loved you very much."

Grace had tears shining in her eyes, and Sam gathered her into her arms. "I'm so sorry," she whispered as she hugged her tightly. There was so much to say that she didn't want to have to say: I'm sorry you have to grow up without him, I'm sorry I can't get you back to see him, or I'm sorry I haven't told you more about him.

A few more moments of silent consolation passed between mother and daughter before Sam pulled away. She gently guided a stray strand of Grace's hair back to where it belonged behind her ear. "I have an idea." Sam said, quietly. "Why don't I take the rest of the day off? We can have mother-daughter bonding time. Just you and me. We haven't done that in a while."

Grace nodded with a smile. "I'd like that."

"Excellent." Sam grinned. "Now...is there anything that you'd like me to bring to this mother-daughter bonding day?"

Grace shook her head.

"Well, I do have something." She said, seriously. "Why don't you go to my quarters, change out of your work clothes, and wait for me?"

"Okay." Grace said, nodding as she left.

Sam watched her leave, inhaling sharply as she did so. Tonight, she would answer any question regardless of how hard it was. She owed her daughter that much. Tonight would be a no-tears night. "For you, Jack." She whispered tenderly as a soft smile touched her lips.

--

Sam walked into her quarters after a few moments. She had a small box under her arm. She smiled upon seeing her daughter sitting on the couch. There were a couple of plates of chocolate cake on the coffee table in front of her. "I passed Daniel in the hallway, and he insisted we take some cake." She shrugged.

Sam chuckled. "The last thing Vala needs is a whole chocolate cake..."

"I thinks that's why he was so insistent." She laughed.

Sam sat down on the leather couch she had cursed so frequently during her pregnancy. "Your dad loves cake." Sam said, seriously. "In fact, there was a time when I had to shut down an active wormhole because of the radiation that was coming through. I had to work with this conceited scientist who wouldn't listen to my suggestions because he thought that they were crazy."

"Sounds fun." Grace said, sarcastically.

"Oh yeah." Sam said, sarcastically. "Anyway, I stole away to my lab, unable to handle the pressure from the scientists who were gathered in the briefing room. Your dad found me there and asked me why I wasn't with the "eggheads"."

She laughed. "He called you an egghead?"

"He tried to take it back." Sam laughed. "It was a clumsy attempt, though."

Grace chuckled. "He sounds like he'd be able to make you laugh even if you weren't sure you wanted to."

Sam nodded. "Yeah. And don't let him convince you that he's not smart. He's very intelligent."

Grace bit the inside of her cheek as she wondered if there would ever be a time that she'd get to meet her father.

Sam inhaled. "Long story short, I asked your father for help, and he offered me cake." She said, finally.

Grace chuckled soberly.

"Now, I have a surprise for you." Sam said, looking at her daughter.

"Oh?"

"Yes." Sam nodded. "I have something that I've been preparing for your father, but I thought you might want to see it too."

Grace looked interested as her mother put in the first DVD. Instantly, Sam appeared on the screen.

"Hi, Jack." The much-younger TV Sam greeted. "I'm sending you this message from the _Odyssey_ like I normally do, except this is a little different." She inhaled. "I can't send it to you once I'm finished recording because we're in a time dilation field while I try to get us home."

Sam looked over at her daughter as the DVD played. Grace was watching it intently, and Sam hoped that this DVD would help.

"I've really done it," Sam heard herself say with lips quivering as the TV Sam looked down at her hands uneasily. "I've gotten us stuck in a time dilation field without any clue of how to get us home." Sam saw her look back up at the camera. "You'll probably receive this a little while after I get home; whenever that is. You probably opened this thinking that it was your Simpsons Season 10 DVD set, but found this instead. Watch the whole thing before you call me, please. Everything I need to tell you is going to be on here."

She inhaled. "Jack, you've probably heard by now that the Asgard home world was exploded. You've probably also heard that they did it on purpose. It was hard to watch, and I wish they hadn't done it, but they were determined." She took another deep breath. "Still, there's something else I need to tell you, and if I don't just say it, I may never say it. " She bit her lip and looked back at the camera. "Two weeks after I initiated the time dilation field, I began to suspect that I was pregnant."

The real Sam watched herself fight the tears that were threatening to burst forth.

"I don't know when this will find you," the tape continued. "But I'm going to do my best to document this because even though we never talked about it, I felt that you wanted to be there if you ever had any more children."

Sam's eyes were tearing up, and she could see that Grace was tearing up as well as she sat cross-legged on the couch watching her mother's tape.

"Jack, no matter what happens, I want you to know that I love you. I always have, and I always will." She whispered with a trembling voice before she kissed her fingers and touched them to the lens of the camera. Just then, the video went black as the transmission ended.

A moment later, Vala's voice could be heard. "Daniel, how do I turn this thing on?"

"Here, Vala, give it to me. You're going to break it." There was a little bit of an audible scuffle. "Vala! You already turned it on!"

"I did?"

"Yeah. You just didn't take the cap off the lens."

Suddenly, Daniel's fingers could be seen as well as the infirmary.

"Oh." Vala said with a childlike grin as she appeared on tape. "Why didn't you just say so?"

There was silence for a moment, and Sam wondered if Daniel wasn't rolling his eyes.

"Now, how do I look?" Vala asked, looking at her reflection in the camcorder lens as she fussed with her hair. "I'm just not sure about this matter-converted shampoo..."

"Vala, this is not about you. It's about Sam and Grace." Daniel said, firmly.

"Right." She said, ducking out of the way with a sheepish smile.

"Okay, here we are with Sam and Grace." Daniel said as he approached Sam's hospital bed where Sam held her newborn baby. She gave him a small smile as she shook her head. "Do you ever stop filming your excursions, Daniel?" She teased.

"Hey, be grateful." He said, seriously. "Until now, none of us had any posterity that would want to know."

She chuckled.

"Now, where is little Gracie?" He asked eagerly.

Sam pulled the blankets which were carefully wound around Grace back a little so that her face could be more clearly seen.

"Look at that beautiful heart-shaped face," Daniel cooed. "And that head of blond hair."

Sam watched herself on camera, remembering everything about those days when she'd first had Grace. Daniel, Vala, and Teal'c helped her to keep her sanity while Grace tried to learn the difference between day and night.

Cam had avoided her, and strangely enough, she'd been grateful since he couldn't seem to keep himself from reminding them how long they'd been in space without a way home.

General Landry, however, came in every so often. She had a feeling that he was trying to find some sort of peace about how career-oriented he'd been when Carolyn had been a baby.

Now, Grace had a special, grandfather-granddaughter relationship with him for which Sam was grateful though at times it made her miss her father all the more.

"She looks just like you, Sam." Vala added.

"Not quite." The video Sam said with a melancholy smile. She touched the baby's fingers with her own. "She has my mother's eyes, my father's nose, her father's smile, and my hair..." Sam said, studying her baby closely.

"I have Dad's smile?" Grace asked, looking over at her mother.

Sam nodded with a small smile. "He has this...goofy grin when he's really happy." She said, remembering all of the times she'd seen it. "It's carefree and spontaneous, and it was so infectious that even when I was afraid the world would end, I couldn't help but smile in return."

Grace grinned as she returned her attention to the home video.

The screen blacked out again, and Grace looked over at her mother. "Why did you stop making the videos for Dad?"

Sam sighed; she'd been afraid of this question. "You were embarrassed by it." She said, seriously.

"I remember that, but you never told me that it was for Dad. Besides, you've done other things that embarrassed me, and kept doing it regardless. Why did you really stop filming everything?"

Sam looked down at her hands, unwilling to answer the question.

Grace looked at her mother, hearing the answer in her silence. "You don't think we're going to get home, do you?"

Sam inhaled sharply, and Grace recognized it as a sign of her mother's discomfort. "Why?"

"We've been here for twenty years, Grace." Sam said with a sigh. "It's unlikely that we'll ever get to Earth."

"What about those scientists that you always told me about? Marie Curie, Louis Pasteur, Albert Einstein? You always said that persistence was the key to scientific breakthrough."

Sam sighed. "They found their answers after twenty years, Grace. And it wasn't on their own in a time dilation field of their own making."

"Mom..."

"Grace, if I had a team of scientists working on the problem, it might be different, but I don't. It's just me."

"Then I'll help you." Grace said, solemnly. "You're not alone, Mom."

Sam gave her daughter a tearful smile as she reached over and squeezed her daughter's hand. "Thank you."


	11. Landry

_After General Landry's death, a few weeks later:_

Sam walked out of the infirmary, having been the only witness to the General's last breaths. Teal'c stood outside the door, out to come in. He noticed the look on her face, and knew instantly what had happened.

Tears streamed down her cheeks as she hugged the Jaffa.

A few moments later, Grace walked down the corridor with a potted plant in her hands. He'd requested one of his beloved plants on her last visit yesterday. She looked up to see her mother clinging to Teal'c for dear life, and felt a lump well up in her throat.

"Grace Carter." Teal'c said, looking over to see her.

Sam pulled away, and wiped at her eyes. "Grace." She whispered.

"No..." She said, realizing why her mother had been crying. "No, he was fine yesterday...he was getting better..."

"Grace." Sam whispered as she walked over to her daughter. She wrapped her in a warm embrace.

Grace pulled away. Without a word, she ran the opposite direction from her mother.

Sam inhaled sharply. She took a step toward the direction that her daughter had taken. Teal'c placed a hand on her shoulder. "Colonel Carter," he said, gently.

She looked up at him.

"Perhaps you should allow Grace some time to grieve in her own way."

Sam bit her lip before she nodded.

--

Some time later, Sam walked down the corridor toward the General's quarters with a tray in her hands. As she had suspected, Grace sat in the middle of the room on the floor with her arms hugging her knees vulnerably.

"I brought you something to eat." Sam said, swallowing down her own emotion.

"I'm not hungry." She said, her voice thick with tears.

"I didn't think you were." Sam admitted as she sat beside her daughter on the floor.

"I keep expecting him to come in and talk to me." She admitted.

"Yeah." Sam said, seriously. "I remember when my mom died...I couldn't walk through the house without thinking that she was going to stop me in my tracks and ask me what was wrong."

"What was she like?" Grace asked, looking at her mother.

Sam raised an eyebrow as she inhaled. "She," she began before pausing and smiling. "She used to sing to me when I was a little girl."

"What would she sing?"

"Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star."

"You used to sing that to me." Grace said after a moment.

"Yeah." Sam said with an affectionate smile as she thought of the memory. "I can't sing as well as my mother could, but...you didn't seem to mind it."

Grace managed a small chuckle.

Sam looked over at her daughter for a moment before she bit her lip. "She taught me how to make...chocolate chip cookies..."

"Those things that...Vala makes Daniel get for her when her cycle comes?" Grace asked, curiously.

Sam chuckled as she nodded. "Uh...yeah..."

"Ah." Grace said, nodding.

Sam sighed as her memories bubbled up within her. "I was making cookies when my dad told me about the accident."

Flashes popped through her mind. The look on her father's face when he told her about her mother's death. Jack's look of concern when Martouf released her from the grip of that memory recall device. The look on her father's face as he called for her mother, Thea. The look on his face as he realized she stood before him, and asked her if he was dreaming.

"Mom?" Grace asked, curiously.

Sam looked at her daughter, shaking her flashback off. "I'm fine, sweetheart."

"Flashback? Colonel Mitchell has those once in a while."'

Sam sighed before nodding. "Yeah. There was a mission about three years into the program where I had to tap into Jolinar's memories in order to save your grandfather."

"The Tok'ra you were blended with, right?"

She nodded. "Yeah."

"Anyway, the memory recall device we used brought up a few of my own memories while we tried to fish around for hers."

Sam looked down at the ground. "The first one was of the day my dad told me that my mom was dead."

Grace, sensing that her mother needed a hug, scooted closer and put her cheek on her shoulder. Sam's arm wrapped around her instinctively.

"What was your dad like?"

Sam grinned. "My dad was a lot of things. Including a lot like your dad."

Grace smiled appreciatively.

"They didn't like each other at first, but they got to know and respect each other after a while." Sam bit her lip. "I never would have gotten through losing your grandfather if it hadn't been for Jack. He was always there for me."

"Do you have any regrets?" Grace asked after a moment of silence.

"What?" Sam asked, surprised as she looked down at her daughter.

"Do you have any regrets?" Grace repeated.

"No." Sam said, sensing that the question was really "do you regret having me?". "You're the best thing that ever happened to me." She said, hugging her daughter tightly. "And I would take you no matter how or where you came to me."

Grace managed a half-smile, though it didn't light up her eyes. They needed to get home.


	12. Time

_Fifty Years in Time-Dilation Field:_

Forty-nine-year-old Grace Carter O'Neill walked into the engine room. "Mom? I'm here."

There was no answer, and Grace looked around the room in confusion. "Mom?"

A note greeted her as she started the laptop. _Hi, sweetheart. I'm taking a long lunch with Teal'c today. Probably won't be in until later in the afternoon. Take a break and do some gardening if you want. Love you. -Mom_

Grace chuckled softly. "Take time to smell the roses," had become her mother's motto over the last twenty years. Of course, once she'd turned seventy and Grace had given her a small potted rose bush, she'd had some roses worth taking the time to smell.

Her mother may have given up hope of ever returning to Earth, but she had not. She sat down at the laptop, and paused for a moment as she looked at the directory of files on the laptop. One of the directories was her mother's personal directory.

Colonel Mitchell had told her a story when she was younger about her mother's personal directory.

_"Anyway, she didn't think she was going to make it." He'd said at the end of the story. "So, she told me that the password was fishing. And I told her that she was going to have to change her password!"_

_He slapped his knee with a loud laugh. "She probably hasn't even thought about changing it yet."_

Grace's natural curiosity caused her to wonder if he hadn't been right.

She clicked on the directory, and it prompted a password. F-i-s-h-i-n-g. She typed quickly.

Almost instantly, she was granted access to her mother's directory. There was a file entitled "Letters". Those were probably the "I'm dead so here's everything I wanted to say to you" letters that General Landry had told her about.

She inhaled sharply, resembling her mother as she did so. The General had become family to her over the nearly twenty years that she had known him.

She prepared to close the directory, feeling a sense of guilt about breeching her mother's privacy, but something caught her eye.

A folder entitled "My Pictures" made her think once more about the father she'd never met. Did her mother have a photograph of him? Did she have pictures of her grandparents Carter? Of Uncle Mark, Aunt Lisa, and their kids, Brandon and Heidi? Of Cassie and Janet? What about Thor or Martouf or anyone else featured prominently in the stories Daniel and Teal'c would share with her periodically.

She bit her lip before she doubled clicked on it.

A group of pictures came to view. The first thumbnail was entitled "Jack and Me". She clicked on the image to enlarge it. Her mother had made her glasses to help cope with her age-induced long-sightedness.

In the picture, her mother (then in her early forties) sat beside a man with graying hair who seemed much older than she was. Still, they were in love, she could tell.

With a carefree smile that Grace had never seen on her mother's features, Samantha Carter posed with the man of her dreams. Grace instantly recognized the goofy grin that her mother had told her about.

Jack sat on a bench, and her mother sat on his lap with her arms wrapped around his neck as they looked at one another with love in their eyes and a laugh on their lips.

Her mother had short hair. It was strange for Grace to see it since her mother had worn her hair around her shoulders for as long as she could remember.

The next photo was of Daniel, Teal'c, her parents, a petite brunette woman and a young brunette woman wearing a black gown and strange-looking rectangular hat. "Cassie's Graduation" was the title of the file.

"Janet?" She asked, studying the brunette standing beside the young woman that Grace assumed was Cassie.

She heard a noise and looked up somewhat surprised, but there was no one there. She shook the adrenaline off and looked back at the pictures. She would ask her mother if she had pictures that they could look at later.

She nearly closed the directory before something caught her eye just a few lines below "My Pictures".

"Time?" She asked herself, reading the file's title.

Was it her mother's thoughts on how little time there seemed to be in a human being's life span? Was it some undisclosed scientific experiment?

She clicked on the file, unable to satiate her burning curiosity with anything other than the file's contents.

She quickly scanned her mother's notes, and her eyes grew wider and wider as understanding dawned on her about the contents of the file. "Whoa..." She finally whispered, looking up as if to look at her mother for an explanation.

When she didn't find her mother (as she had expected), she inhaled. She had a choice to make.


	13. Home

_Two hours later:_

"I don't understand why we still have these meetings." Daniel groaned. "It's not like we're going to hear anything new."

Sam chuckled, though everyone could still see her melancholy interior through her light-hearted exterior.

"Be quiet, Daniel." Vala admonished. "Grace called the meeting. Maybe she has something to say."

"Grace Carter has not yet arrived." Teal'c said, observantly.

"Actually..." Grace said, walking in. "I'm here."

"Wonderful. Then we can start." Cam said from where he sat, sulking, in the back of the room.

Grace inhaled. "I know how to get us home." She said, seriously.

Sam's eyes widened in curiosity.

Cam straightened. "You do?"

She nodded.

"How?" Vala pressed.

"I...figured out how to reverse time in a localized field." She said, eyeing her mother levelly.

Sam inhaled sharply as she realized what Grace had found.

Daniel looked at her curiously. "You did what?"

"I figured out how to reverse time in a localized field. We can't do it further back than just before Mom turned on the field; otherwise, it would create a paradox that the system would be unable to handle."

"We don't have enough power to do it, though." Sam said, after a moment. "The power generator of the Asgard core is too far depleted."

"I thought about that, Mom." Grace said, stepping over to the window. "If we let the Ori beam hit us, we can use the energy of the blast to power the reversal."

"How do we keep from making the same mistake?" Sam countered.

Daniel and Vala shared a look with one another. Somehow there was more going on here than they'd been clued into.

"One of...you..." Grace said, choosing her words carefully. "Can stay in a personal shield, and hopefully, you can get home."

"Wait..." Daniel said as understanding began to dawn. "You..."

"I will cease to exist. At least...until I'm born...again..." Grace said, swallowing. "Theoretically, you should be home before that happens."

"What about the Asgard core?" Vala asked, looking at them. "By now, we know that's how the Ori were able to follow us in the first place."

"I designed a program just before Grace was born, that would disconnect the Asgard core in a matter of seconds if I ever figured out how to, uh, get away from the Ori blast alive." Sam said, eyeing her daughter seriously.

"Look, it's your only chance to get home." Grace insisted.

Cam looked at everyone. "Shall we...put it to a vote?"

"No." Sam insisted.

"Mom..."

"Grace..."

"I'm forty-nine years old, and old enough to make my own decision, Mom." Grace said, levelly. "Besides...it's not like I won't be born. You were already pregnant with me when you embarked on this mission."

"But..." Sam argued weakly.

"I want to see Earth, Mom. Like you said, when your pool of experience is limited, so is your potential for growth."

Sam looked at her daughter as tears welled up in her eyes. The rest of the team found their way out of the room so that mother and daughter could have a private moment.

"The date modified tab on the file said January 15, 2048." Grace said, looking at her mother. "You figured it out ten years ago. You could have done it without waiting for the Ori blast to hit us."

"And choose to have my daughter erased from the time-space continuum, I don't think so." Sam said, earnestly.

"Mom, I won't be erased." She said, seriously. "Not entirely anyway."

Sam face showed her anguish.

"Mom, I know this is hard. And if there was any other way..."

"I know..." Sam said, trying to keep from releasing her tears. "You're just...you're too much like your father."

Grace chuckled, though tears of her own were slipping down her cheeks. "You have to convince them to do this, Mom." Grace said, seriously. "It's the only chance you have of getting the Asgard core back to Earth. And that alone is more valuable than me."

"Nothing," Sam said, earnestly. "Is more valuable than you."

"Please, Mom." Grace pleaded.

Sam sighed before nodding. "All right. I'll do it."

--

"Teal'c." Grace said, looking at him as she swallowed. "Are you...ready?"

Teal'c tucked the small package he'd hidden on his person further into his pocket. "Indeed I am." He said, nodding.

Grace accessed the ship's computer, and turned off the time dilation field as she booted up the program to reverse time. Then, she prepared for the blast wave.


	14. Teal'c

_After the time-reversal:_

Sam pulled herself up on the console, preparing to activate the time-dilation field.

"Colonel Carter!" Teal'c cried, touching her shoulder.

She looked at him, confused.

He handed her a computer chip. "I will explain later." He said, urgently.

She placed it into the console, and the _Odyssey_ jumped into hyperspace.

She looked back at him. "What just happened?"

"Colonel Carter?" Landry asked over the intercom. "What just happened?"

"We jumped into hyperspace, sir." She said, looking at the computer interface. "It looks like the chip Teal'c just handed me disconnected the Asgard core from the ship's systems just before we did."

"Teal'c handed you what?" Cam interrupted.

"A computer chip." She said, biting the inside of her cheek. "I'm as confused as you guys are."

"Perhaps we should meet and discuss it." Teal'c said over the intercom. "I have much to tell you."

A moment later, they were all in the engine room.

"What happened to your hair, Muscles?" Vala asked, noticing the gray streak in his hair.

"I have aged an additional fifty years." He said, seriously.

Daniel's eyebrows raised in skepticism. "Right..."

"We were trapped within a time-dilation field which Colonel Carter created." Teal'c said, seriously.

"No, Teal'c, that's what we were going to do." General Landry corrected.

"I have already endured the effects of that decision." He said, seriously.

"For fifty years..." Cam said, sarcastically.

"Indeed." Teal'c said, nodding.

"So...I never figured out how to get us home?" Sam asked, looking over at him.

Teal'c remained stoically silent.

"You can't tell me because you don't want to influence the future." She said, realizing the silliness of her own question.

"Indeed." He said, nodding again.

General Landry looked at Teal'c before looking back at Sam. "Are we headed home?"

She nodded. "Yes, sir. Our course is set for Earth."

"Then, I'm good." He said, nodding. "I expect your reports on my desk when we get back."

Sam shook her head, turning back to her computer, as they all left. Teal'c remained behind. "You should rest, Colonel Carter." He said, seriously.

"I'm fine." She assured, looking back at him. "I'm not the one who just traveled back in time fifty years."

"Indeed." He acknowledged.

"Get some rest, Teal'c. Like I said, I'll be fine."

He raised an eyebrow before he left, studying her as he did so.

She watched him go, wondering with an amused smile just what that had been about.

_Stay tuned for the final installment of the "More Trouble Than I'm Worth" series entitled "New Life"._


End file.
